October 20, 2013

zuppa di pomodori e peperoni arrosto / roasted tomato and pepper soup

Some recipes (ricette) come out perfect the first time I make them and the following renditions serve to confirm the initial evaluation.

Most recipes require a few tries before they are deemed ready to be shared. Each time I make an adjustment and compare the amended version with the previous one. I repeat the process until I am satisfied with the result.

A small number of recipes are not worth investigating further than the first try.

Finally, there are the rare cases, the recipes that I am determined to make work just as they are determined not to come out well. The more they baffle me, the deeper I dig my heels. The battle may end in victory or defeat, but it is always fairly bloody and it may drag on for years.

Such was the case with tomato soup.

peeking under the food mill

I took freshly harvested organic tomatoes from my Neukom Family Farm CSA box, made my usual strained roasted tomatoes, then made a soup with them and it turned out rather tasteless. I then added took freshly harvested organic flavorful sweet peppers (peperoni dolci), roasted them and added them to the soup. While the taste gauge went up a notch, it was nowhere near where it should be, considering that I was starting with two extremely good ingredients.

so many peppers, so little time

A large sweet onion in a recent CSA box gave me the idea of adding another roasted vegetable to the mix and this time, finally, the soup was worth making again and again, and then sharing.

In the recipe below, I assume you already have strained roasted tomatoes either freshly made (if you live in an area where it is tomato season) or thawed from your frozen stash. I described how to prepare tomatoes this way in a recent post.

Place peppers on another baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or aluminum foil. For efficiency's sake, try to fit both baking sheets into the oven. Roast for 15 minutes, then turn the peppers 90 or 180 degrees, depending on their width, and lightly toss the onion, spreading it again so it roasts evenly. Wrap garlic cloves all together in a piece of foil and place them next to the peppers.

Roast for 15 minutes. At this point, the onions may well be ready: they should be soft and not burnt. If so, take them out and continue roasting only the peppers and garlic. (If not, put them back in the oven and check after a few minutes.)

Take the garlic out after 5 minutes. Let the cloves cool, then peel them.

Turn the peppers again after 10 minutes. Continue roasting them until they are ready, i.e., when the skin has turned dark and is detaching in places. (The time depends on the type and size of peppers.) Put the peppers in a lidded container or paper bag to steam, then peel off skin, discard stem and seeds, and the liquid they release. Measure one cup for the soup and set aside the rest for another use.

How to prepare the soupWarm up a bit of olive oil in a soup pot, then add the strained roasted tomatoes, all the roasted vegetables and the broth. Cover and bring to a boil, then let cook gently for five minutes. Remove from the heat. Season with a bit of salt, to taste, and stir.

Let the soup rest, covered, for 15 minutes, then purée with an immersion blender. Add water, as needed, to obtain a soup of the desired consistency. Making the soup at least a few hours before you are planning to serve it will give it enough time to rest and ripen. Reheat the soup before serving it.

In the top photo, I portrayed the soup with some mana'eesh baked in my new wood-burning oven (more on this soon).

After winning this battle, I can say that it was worth fighting: my tomato soup tastes intensely of tomatoes and a bit of sweet peppers. I can imagine making it during the winter, when gray days of gray rain desperately call for intense color and a flavor that can transport me to summer. Basically, this is prescription soup to treat winter blues.

Comments

Some recipes (ricette) come out perfect the first time I make them and the following renditions serve to confirm the initial evaluation.

Most recipes require a few tries before they are deemed ready to be shared. Each time I make an adjustment and compare the amended version with the previous one. I repeat the process until I am satisfied with the result.

A small number of recipes are not worth investigating further than the first try.

Finally, there are the rare cases, the recipes that I am determined to make work just as they are determined not to come out well. The more they baffle me, the deeper I dig my heels. The battle may end in victory or defeat, but it is always fairly bloody and it may drag on for years.

Such was the case with tomato soup.

peeking under the food mill

I took freshly harvested organic tomatoes from my Neukom Family Farm CSA box, made my usual strained roasted tomatoes, then made a soup with them and it turned out rather tasteless. I then added took freshly harvested organic flavorful sweet peppers (peperoni dolci), roasted them and added them to the soup. While the taste gauge went up a notch, it was nowhere near where it should be, considering that I was starting with two extremely good ingredients.

so many peppers, so little time

A large sweet onion in a recent CSA box gave me the idea of adding another roasted vegetable to the mix and this time, finally, the soup was worth making again and again, and then sharing.

In the recipe below, I assume you already have strained roasted tomatoes either freshly made (if you live in an area where it is tomato season) or thawed from your frozen stash. I described how to prepare tomatoes this way in a recent post.

Place peppers on another baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or aluminum foil. For efficiency's sake, try to fit both baking sheets into the oven. Roast for 15 minutes, then turn the peppers 90 or 180 degrees, depending on their width, and lightly toss the onion, spreading it again so it roasts evenly. Wrap garlic cloves all together in a piece of foil and place them next to the peppers.

Roast for 15 minutes. At this point, the onions may well be ready: they should be soft and not burnt. If so, take them out and continue roasting only the peppers and garlic. (If not, put them back in the oven and check after a few minutes.)

Take the garlic out after 5 minutes. Let the cloves cool, then peel them.

Turn the peppers again after 10 minutes. Continue roasting them until they are ready, i.e., when the skin has turned dark and is detaching in places. (The time depends on the type and size of peppers.) Put the peppers in a lidded container or paper bag to steam, then peel off skin, discard stem and seeds, and the liquid they release. Measure one cup for the soup and set aside the rest for another use.

How to prepare the soupWarm up a bit of olive oil in a soup pot, then add the strained roasted tomatoes, all the roasted vegetables and the broth. Cover and bring to a boil, then let cook gently for five minutes. Remove from the heat. Season with a bit of salt, to taste, and stir.

Let the soup rest, covered, for 15 minutes, then purée with an immersion blender. Add water, as needed, to obtain a soup of the desired consistency. Making the soup at least a few hours before you are planning to serve it will give it enough time to rest and ripen. Reheat the soup before serving it.

In the top photo, I portrayed the soup with some mana'eesh baked in my new wood-burning oven (more on this soon).

After winning this battle, I can say that it was worth fighting: my tomato soup tastes intensely of tomatoes and a bit of sweet peppers. I can imagine making it during the winter, when gray days of gray rain desperately call for intense color and a flavor that can transport me to summer. Basically, this is prescription soup to treat winter blues.

March 15-June 6 Comments

On March 15, 2014, I switched to Disqus comments. I then discovered that comments on posts older than January 1, 2013 appeared only in some cases. The solution offered was not satisfactory, so on June 6, I disabled Disqus. Between June 7 and June 20, I manually entered Disqus comments into TypePad, so they appear with a date later than the original.

To use any of the photographs published in the blog permission must be obtained from Simona
No food was (nor will ever be) discarded in the process of taking the photographs, i.e., everything was consumed either immediately or in due time